“I am so, so, so sorry…”

“August, stop apologizing,” I said.

“But if I’d called right back when I said I would, maybe I could’ve helped…”

“No harm done,” I promised her. “And you couldn’t have helped over the phone.”

“I could’ve called the police!”

“They wouldn’t have gotten there in time. Anyway, there’s nothing we can do about it now.”

August had called me, I presumed, as soon as she’d heard. She said she’d been on the phone with Carmen forever and then her mother-in-law had called and by the time she finally got off the phone, she’d completely forgotten she’d promised to get right back to me.

“I’m glad you’re okay. Is there anything I can do?”

“Nah, I’ll be fine. AJ’s here, and I think we’re about to order dinner, so I’ll talk to you later?”

“Sure.”

We said good-bye and I sat back down on the couch.

“Poor August. She’s got enough to deal with without worrying about me.”

“Oh, her and Brian?”

“Yeah, like…” I laughed. “Nevermind.” He was probably as clueless about it as Brian was. “Anyways, what are we getting?”

“Pizza?” he suggested.

I nodded. I wasn’t very particular. And I wasn’t that hungry. We’d gone to the police station today, on AJ’s insistence. I knew he was right. I simply had trust issues with them. In Maine, when I’d finally gone to them, they hadn’t been much help. Any help, actually. But that was no reason to blame the cops in Orlando.

Now that I’d actually seen him, they seemed like they were going to be more active in searching for him. Hopefully they’d find him before long. I was still thinking about all of this when AJ finished ordering.

“You know, you aren’t obligated to stay by my side. It’s not like you can always be where I am or anything. You’ve got a pretty hectic career. Not to mention a life in general…”

I was still confused as to why he was taking such a stand on this. Did he feel that guilty he’d been going out with the Cheryl the day I was going to tell him about all of this? It’s not like that would’ve changed anything. It was hindsight bias regardless.

“Actually, I’ve got some dinner I have to go to the day after tomorrow. I was going to talk to you about that. I wish I could get out of it, but it’s a good friend of mine, and he’s throwing a surprise party for his wife. I sort of promised. And I’d invite you, but it’s going to be insanely boring.”

I shrugged. “Yeah, no thanks. And that’s fine. I don’t expect you to just drop everything because I’ve got some crazy guy to deal with. Like I said, you can’t babysit me all the time.”

“No, so I was thinking you could go hang out with someone else tomorrow night. Maybe we could call August back?”

“So it’s like joint-custody now?” I joked.

“You know it’s not safe to be here by yourself,” AJ said. “The police said that, too.”

“I know, but this isn’t your responsibility.”

“Never said it was, but that doesn’t mean that I’m leaving either. You’re stuck with me until they throw that freak in jail.”

That didn’t seem like such a bad thing.

The food was shortly delivered, and I managed to clear off the kitchen table so that we didn’t have to eat on the couch.

“Sorry the place is such a mess…. well, sorry it’s more of a mess than usual.”

He laughed. “Doesn’t matter to me.”

I grabbed a slice of pizza and sat down across from him. “Right. You’re house is absolutely perfect.”

“Yeah, well, I have a housekeeper,” he grinned.

“Oh,” I said. “Wow, that must be nice Mr. Millionaire.”

“More like Mr. Millenniumaire,” he said, and then laughed at his own joke. “And you’re just jealous because you don’t have a car.”

Funny how AJ could insult me and still manage to sound charming. “Yeah? If you want me to shove this food in your face, keep on talking.”

“Talking,” he said and opened his mouth wide.

I laughed. Only AJ could make a meal so entertaining.

“It just so happens that, provided that nothing breaks or anything, I’ll be buying a car after my next paycheck. I found a cheap one. It’s used, an ugly shade a brown, and the AC doesn’t work. Not to mention it’s from the 80s, but it’ll be mine.”

“Well, congratulations!”

“Yeah, I know. It’s no Porsche.”

“You’re right about that!” he agreed quickly.

I shot him a look, and he laughed.

“As long as it runs, that’s all that matters. But do me a favor, would you?”

“What?”

“Try not to set this one on fire…”

I wadded up my napkin, and it bounced off his forehead. “Never going to let that go, are you? You act like I lit a match and threw it through the window!”

AJ put his hands out. “Hey, what you do with matches is your own business.”

I ignored him and, a little while later, put the pizza box in the fridge and the dishes in the dishwasher. I yawned.

“Tired?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Aren’t you? You got less sleep than I did.”

AJ shrugged. “I’m used to it, since I’m always up that late. And… I took a short nap at the studio today.”

“Jeez, I’ve never wanted to be a Backstreet Boy more. I can only imagine what would happen if I fell asleep at work.”

I went into my room and changed into my PJs. I almost felt like we were having some sort of slumber party. Which reminded me.

“Um,” I walked back into the living room, “I don’t have a guestroom… or spare room, for that matter. There’s my room or the couch. But the couch is kind of crappy.”

I realized I’d added that last part intentionally. I mean, it was true. There was a spring right in the middle of it. Whenever I fell asleep on the couch, I woke up with that part of my back sore.

But I was hoping he’d stay in my room. He’d been a sort of guard last night; I’d felt protected enough to fall asleep. It was nice having someone else around the apartment. I hadn’t realized how much I missed living with anyone.

“Uh,” he said, “wherever.” He shrugged, but he suddenly wasn’t his calm, cool, and collected self.

He’d brought some of his stuff with him, and he went into the bathroom to change. He’d also brought his laptop, though, so he probably wasn’t going to actually be going to sleep any time soon.

I looked at the clock. It was barely ten, so I couldn’t blame him. But having to get up for morning shifts at a coffee shop made you tired early.

I went into my room, taking off my bracelet and necklace and placing them on the counter, then tidying up a bit.

AJ came in. “Everything locked? The front doors, the windows…?”

I nodded.

“You don’t have a security system do you?”

“Well, only if you count you,” I laughed. Which I did, I realized.

“Ha ha,” he said flatly, head tilted to the side. A smile soon crossed his face, though. “Have no fear, AJ is fear,” he did the Superman pose.

“Oh, I didn’t realize you were a superhero.”

“Actually,” he flashed that token smile again, “I am. I have my own action figure and everything.”

“What? No you do not!” I said, incredulously.

“Do so! They sold it at Burger King!”

“Wow. Well, I had no idea. You do a good job hiding your cool side with this Clark Kent get-up,” I motioned to his t-shirt and boxers.

He put a hand over his heart. “That would’ve hurt if I didn’t have superhuman strength. Luckily, nothing can hurt me!”

“Guess I’m Lois Lane then? Damsel in distress.”

AJ laughed. “You are anything but a damsel. But if you ever do need saving…”

“Again,” I interjected, rolling my eyes. The mall scene was still fresh on my mind.

“… again,” he conceded, “then I’ll have my cape and tights ready to go.”

I was about to sarcastically mention the underwear-over-tights fashion statement, but I stopped when his eyes met mine. I’d always been a sucker for those dang eyes. Without thinking about it, I cradled his face with my hands and pressed my mouth against his.

AJ let out a breath in surprise, but was soon kissing me back. It seemed like we hadn’t done this in forever. All of a sudden I didn’t care about Peter, or Cheryl for that matter… or all of the questions usually plaguing me about him. I was surer about him than I’d ever been before.

I moved closer to him, and he wrapped his arms around my waist. Whatever it was that had taken control of me wasn’t fully satisfied. I moved my hands to the bottom of his shirt and slowly lifted it off him. There was a tattoo on his stomach that I’d never seen before; I traced it with my fingers as he kissed me again. He seemed more eager now, and I started to wrap my arms around him again.

Then something switched. Suddenly, he was backing away, as if he’d just recognized what was going on.

“Uh,” he stuttered as I tried to catch my breath, “I wanted to see if you minded me raiding your fridge? I was looking for a bottle of water.”

“Um. No go ahead,” I stared at him in disbelief, feeling my face redden.

“Great. And did you have an extra pillow for the couch? There’s already a blanket out there…”

I tossed him a pillow, too embarrassed to say anything else.

“Thanks. Well, goodnight,” AJ said, practically running out of the room.

I turned off my light, and crawled into bed, hiding under the covers like I was a little kid. Well, I’d started to believe he must care a lot to be doing all of this for me, but I was obviously reading the signals wrong. Heck, what signals? AJ was just being nice. And I’d practically jumped him. What had gotten into me? He was already over whatever he’d felt for me, just like Carmen had said happened with every other girl he dated. Just like I’d predicted. Why hadn’t I listened to reason?

It suddenly dawned on me that, as great as it would be when they finally apprehended Peter and my troubles were gone, AJ wouldn’t have the incessant need to “protect” me anymore.

He would be gone, too.